I believe he's the pilot of that YF-19 with the SMS super pack when the other Macross Quarters fold in

I was expecting more cameos after that. Just having one makes it seems kind of out of place almost.

As for Alto

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I like to think that he finally managed to find out what happened to Minmei (that WAS brought up in Frontier right? I only have vague recollections of what happened) and is probably living it up on the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 with Hikaru and Shin.

So I finally got to see the movie this past weekend and I've got to say as nice as it was to see a conclusion to the love triangle, it was not nice to see it happen at the sacrifice of the plot. Here are my thoughts:

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There were so many ridiculous almost deaths in this movie..It was overdone to no end. They could have just shown what happened to each character at that point in time rather than making us hold our breath. When Sheryl got sucked out I knew for a fact she didn't die.

It felt like too much was gotten rid of that the TV show had done right. It seemed like they chopped up the ideas they had put into the series and tried to cram these cut up little pieces into the movie.

The music was not as amazing as the TV series. All of the music from the TV series was almost gone in this second movie and all of Ranka's songs felt like they had no "strength" to them. Her singing at the end felt hollow and while the final song they sing was awesome, it still felt hollow for being the "final boss" of the movies.

Personally I feel like they should have had 3 movies or not made any movies at all. The quality was really dropped plot wise on the movie.

That's the end of the bad stuff...now for the good. I loved the visuals. They were great overall like always. All of the new animation was great to watch. In fact I don't really recall any of the animation even being from the original TV series. The VF-29 was a nice design, but the coloring was a bit off. The action was great and that final battle between Brera with his 4 Ghost Fighters and Alto was fun to watch just like any other Macross battle.

Overall the movie was ok..I wouldn't suggest anyone to watch these movies until they have watched the original series first. Its a shame the second movie had to drop the ball a bit when compared to the first movie and the TV series.

Now that Frontier is (most likely) over for good, looking back on the experience while I did enjoy it, nothing about it is likely to stick with me for very long. If it's one thing I will take from Frontier, though, it's Megumi Nakajima. Say what you will about Ranka, Nakajima is a pleasure to listen to and I'm overjoyed that she's since made a career out of singing and voice acting rather than disappearing from sight after her 15 minutes of fame.

"In the end, the world doesn't really need a Superman... Just a brave one."

Isamu's new VF is a VF-19ADVANCE Excalibur Advance, nicknamed the "Isamu Special". Its mothership is the Macross Quarter-class Crazy Horse. It's base is a VF-19E modified with parts from the A-type to make it resemble the YF-19.

You know, I noticed how Macross, and even some animes simply with Shoji Kawamori involved in the staff, have a habit of giving us not-so-conclusive endings:

Macross

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Hikaru and Misa get together at the end, but then they go missing with Minmei and the Megaroad One after the series, never to be heard from again.

Macross 7

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The love triangle is never really concluded, and from what I've heard on Animesuki, one of the Fire Bomber CDs talks about how Basara never returned to the Macross 7 fleet after Dynamite 7.

Macross Zero

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Shinn and Sara disappear at the end; their fates are completely unkown.

Macross Frontier TV Series

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The love triangle is not concluded.

Macross Frontier Movie

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The love triangle is concluded, but instead Alto goes missing and Sheryl falls into a coma.

Only Macross II and Plus have conclusive endings, and really Macross Plus' triangle is decided by "default"

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since Guld dies, rather than there actually being a conclusion drawn.

Even Aquarion ends with Apollo

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sacrificing himself to save the world along with, Sirius and Touma.

Being a fan of happy, conclusive endings, I can't say I'm particular pleased with this habit of Kawamori/the Macross saga, especially how Macross Frontier managed to trade one non-conclusion for another between its series and movie.

You can't at all count the original Macross series, because all that Megaroad stuff happens after the fact and not as part of the anime. Also, if you're a fan of conclusive endings, you should have enough experience with anime by now to know you don't always get them.

"What did catch my eye, however, was a podcast named Gundamn!. At first I thought it was a podcast about firearms and [rednecks] discussing their collection, but after looking at the episode titles I was sold." - Xhavalor

Chris wrote:You can't at all count the original Macross series, because all that Megaroad stuff happens after the fact and not as part of the anime.

To be honest I wasn't fully intending to include original Macross for that reason, but it still happened.

Also, if you're a fan of conclusive endings, you should have enough experience with anime by now to know you don't always get them.

That doesn't mean I have to like it when a franchise repeatedly hands out inconclusive endings. It doesn't mean I have to like it in any series, lol. ^^b And it's annoying enough that the two versions of Macross F simply trade different versions of inconclusive endings.
Every once in a while is fine and nothing to point out (like E's Otherwise and stuff), but the Macross franchise repeatedly gives inconclusive endings. Or rather I should say, it seems Kawamori does; even Aquarion gave us the bittwersweet/inconclusive ending, which he was the director of. (though he wasn't the director of Macross 7, but coincidentially he was still on the staff)

Shinji103 wrote:...That doesn't mean I have to like it when a franchise repeatedly hands out inconclusive endings. It doesn't mean I have to like it in any series, lol. ^^b And it's annoying enough that the two versions of Macross F simply trade different versions of inconclusive endings. ...

What's wrong with the ending? Isn't it enough to say "And that's where the story ends. That's all I wanted to tell."? He wraps up all the major plot points. Isn't that what an ending is suppose to do?

"I dislike death indeed, but there is that which I dislike more than death, and therefore there are occasions when I will not avoid danger."

azrael wrote:What's wrong with the ending? Isn't it enough to say "And that's where the story ends. That's all I wanted to tell."? He wraps up all the major plot points. Isn't that what an ending is suppose to do?

How about the part where

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Alto is missing, his whereabouts unknown, and Sheryl is in a coma? ^^b

A series is about more than just plot; it's also about the characters, and the hero and heroine are big question marks here. I have nothing against the inconclusive ending (though I don't like it), but it does get annoying when a franchise/director repeatedly gives it, and especially when a remake of a series just trades one inconclusive ending for another. Plenty of people weren't big fans of

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the lack of conclusion to the triangle in the Macross F TV series, and while the movies give us that conclusion, they instead take away the two characters and their conclusion.

Seeing how the characters end up gives a nice sense of fulfillment to the viewers and helps convey that the story is finished; plenty of people were also unsatisfied with the lack of attention to how a good number of the characters ended up at the end of Eureka 7. (especially Holland and Talho)